A note from Steve and Julie, our FAR-West 2012 Conference Coordinators

January 20, 2012!!

Dear FAR-Westers. Happy New Year!  This is Steve Brogden and Julie Paris, conference co-coordinators for the 2012 FAR-West conference, wishing each of you a most happy, healthy and creatively prosperous New Year.  We agreed to be coordinators of the 2012 Conference with the goal of building a strong team of pre-planning volunteers each willing to take on a single aspect of the conference.  We want both people who have been involved and those who have not and thank those who have already signed up!

FAR-West 2012 will be held in Irvine, CA, from October 18-21 and we are already very excited about it.  We will be returning to the Hyatt Regency Irvine, where we were in 2009.

We will replicate a few things from last year's very successful conference in Eugene.  PGS hosting in hotel bedrooms will begin at 10:30pm on Thursday night, after the DJ/Venue Choice concert/showcase.  The Official (juried) Showcases will again be presented in one room on both Friday and Saturday nights, offering a performance without the distraction of people coming and going.  We will have panels and workshops of varied lengths so that longer discussions can take place.  And, on Sunday, we plan to have master classes until 2pm and then a dance ending at 5pm.

One event that we are reviving from years ago is the Sunday morning brunch. This will be in addition to the Best of the West luncheon on Saturday and both will be included in the price of registration.

Between us we have seen a lot of conferences and a lot of burned out coordinators.  That is because they have undertaken way too many aspects of the event.  We will not do that.  We are volunteers with families and day jobs too.  We are also board members with responsible positions (president and treasurer).  We cannot present the conference as we know it without a roster of volunteers.  We need both those who will plan the events before October and those who will give of their time during the event.  Today, we are looking for the PRE-conference volunteers.

There is a detailed list of all the volunteer positions, with what each position entails, that must be filled if we are to put on a stellar conference without putting any one person under too much pressure.  We have added those people who have already volunteered to the list.  You can see this list on the FAR-West web site: http://www.far-west.org/volunteering2012.html

Please review this list, find something that matches your interest or skills, and then sign on to help us out.  Call a friend and volunteer for a position together (like we did). Being involved in putting this conference together is one of the most rewarding things each of us has ever done. Please contact either Julie or Steve if you have any questions about what you can be involved with.

We hope to have this team assembled by the end of February and look forward to hearing from you.

Happy New Year!                                                                      

Steve Brogden                                                Julie Paris 
Conference Co-coordinator                            Conference Co-coordinator